Among the
countries studied, the US performed fourth best, after Canada, Sweden, and
Australia. According to the Heritage
Foundation’s ranking of economic freedom--or absence of socialism and
regulation--Canada ranks six, Sweden ranks 26, and Australia ranks five in
terms of economic freedom. In contrast,
the US ranks 11 in terms of economic freedom.
In other words, two of the three
countries studied in which the bottom ten percent are best off have LESS
SOCIALISM and regulation than the United States does.

At the
bottom of this email, I list the 25 most-free countries and their wealth ranks
(average wealth rank= 38) and of the 25 most-socialist countries and their
wealth ranks (average wealth rank=154).

After
that I list the 13 countries with populations of 100 million or more. The wealthiest of the countries with 100
million or more population is the US, with an economic freedom ranking of 11
and a wealth rank of 19, and Japan, with an economic freedom ranking of 22 and
a wealth rank of 43. The other 11
countries with over 100 million population have a mean economic freedom ranking
of 109 and a mean wealth ranking of 129. Large countries tend to adopt socialism, and
as a result they tend to be poor.

The Scandinavian
countries are in flux, and have a split personality. Student K-S is right that Denmark, Sweden,
Norway, and the other Scandinavian countries still have high welfare
benefits. However, in many ways they
have become or are becoming less regulated than the US, which has caused sharp
increases in their wealth or GDP per capita. This article by the Foundation for
Economic Education gives an overview:

Scandinavia
is in the midst of an economic transformation. Thanks to tax reform, openness
to investment/trade, sound property rights, little corruption, and continuing
efforts to privatize, economies there have made great strides toward
liberalization. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden have been rated “free”
economies by the Heritage Foundation’s 2006 Index of Economic Freedom (online
at www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm). Norway lags behind
with a “mostly free” rating. Norway has
had fewer incentives to liberalize because of its large oil endowment.

I looked up the current rankings of GDP per
capita by the CIA, which is available at

As well,
I looked up the economic freedom (lack of socialism and lack of regulation)
rankings by the Heritage Foundation for the 25-freest countries and the 25
least-free countries.

The five economically
freest, least socialist countries--Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand,
Switzerland, and Australia--have an average wealth ranking of 23.4, which puts
them in the top 10% in terms of wealth.
The five most socialist or least economically free countries—Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Cuba, and
North Korea---have an average wealth ranking of 149.2, which puts them in the
bottom 20% in terms of wealth. Socialism
causes suffering of the poorest people in those countries.

I have tabulated the list of the 25 -freest (least socialist) countries and the 25 least-free countries as compiled
by the Heritage Foundation (see http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
) along with GDP per capita as compiled by the CIA. The list is. The mean wealth rank for the 25-freest countries is 38. The mean wealth
rank for the 25 least-free countries, the most socialist, is 154.

If one looks at the CIA rankings of
the richest countries, one sees that special considerations characterize most
of the 20 richest. These include oil
exporters--Qatar, Kuwait, Norway, Brunei, and UAE; small countries with wealthy
part-time residents, banking, or gambling—Macau, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Monaco,
Bermuda, and Sint Maarten; and small countries that are dependent on larger
ones—Isle of Man, San Marino, Jersey, and the Falkland Islands. If one removes those, the remaining top-20
wealthiest countries are Singapore, Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the
United States. These are among the
freest countries, with a mean freedom rank of 5.2. The mean for the five is raised somewhat by
the US, which had the freest economy until the 1960s or so, and has been in
decline since it increased the degree of socialism under Lyndon Johnson and
Richard Nixon; more recently, George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama have also
increased the degree of socialism, so one can expect further decline in the US.

Here are
lists of the 25 most-free countries and their wealth ranks (average wealth rank=
38) and of the 25 most-socialist countries and their wealth ranks (average
wealth rank=154).

After
that I list the 13 countries with populations of 100 million or more.

Google Custom Search

Pages

Mitchell Langbert

About Me

I have researched and written about employee benefit issues and in my previous life was a corporate benefits administrator. I am currently associate professor of business at Brooklyn College. I hold a Ph.D. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, an MBA from UCLA and an AB from Sarah Lawrence College. I am working on a project involving public policy. I blog on academic and political topics.